Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Nigerian agency raises alarm about looming floods

This Day Live (Nigeria): Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Muhammad Sidi, Tuesday raised the alarm over the looming flood disaster in some states of the federation. He stressed the need for state governments to strengthen their emergency management agencies to boost resilience to disasters, saying if measures are not taken to mitigate vulnerability to the hazard, it could happen again this year with the same devastating consequences or even worse.

Speaking at a regional workshop on climate change adaptation and risk management in Nigeria in Sokoto on Tuesday, Sidi stated that rainfall forecast for this year for Nigeria by Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) points to more rainfall than normal. According to him, the 2010 flood disaster in 23 states of the federation reminds us that we can no longer ignore disaster risks because it constitute the greatest threat to development and socio-economic well being of the people.

He noted that many communities are vulnerable and unable to cope with the adverse effects of climate change due to lack of assets such as land, livestock, income among others. The NEMA boss pointed out that lack of access to education, healthcare, agricultural services and conflict resolution mechanisms are often responsible for their vulnerability….

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